The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Taffeta on December 02, 2019, 05:21:14 PM
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So this has been a curious wondering for me as a while, as I keep seeing people putting MB names on grail lists and want lists and mentioning wanting retro ones...
For all you people who grew up in places that did NOT have Mountain Boys...
What is it about them that makes them so popular?
Is it their colouring?
The fact they're boy ponies?
THe freckles?
The names?
The fact they're a little more difficult to get because of geography)
Some other reason?
Or do you think they're overhyped?
I ask this because as I've mentioned before, some of the early y2 and y3 ponies are special to me because of the childhood nostalgia of having things with them on and stories with them in but never having them in stores. Whereas I've heard people stateside talk about reams of Fireflies and Glories and Medleys and that they're common and whatever. So I was interested in the opposite point of view...being that the MB set were the only boy ponies I managed to find new as a kid, and so the only ones I ever had :/
I know boy ponies in general are quite liked but MBs don't have the funky hat and scarf accessories that the BB set do, so I am curious to know what it is that makes them stand out.
Please note MBs are not common xD. But when I was carbooting in the nineties I found quite a few of them (compared to how often some other ponies in their price range turn/ed up).
So educate me.
What is it about the Mountain Boys for you?
(Feel free to name a favourite, a bonus cookie for anyone whose favourite is NOT Ice Crystal. xD)
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I live in the US! I don't own any of them, but I'd like to. I like a lot of their color schemes! My favorite in the set.... perhaps Fireball? His hot pink body looks nice with his hair colors! I do quite like Ice Crystal a lot too, I won't deny. But I do just really love mint green so that's inevitable. :P
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Is it their coloring? Yes! I love the colors of Ice Crystal, Thundercloud, Sunburst and Tornado!
The fact that they're boy ponies? Yes. I like G1 boys and I like draft horses too.
The freckles? Eh. I could live with or without.
Difficult to get hold of because of geography? I wish they weren't difficult to get hold of. Wish they were sold here and as common as Peachy or Glory.
The names? They have good names.
Some other reason? I like their symbols. Particularly Icey and Tornado's. I also like that there is actually one for each color of the rainbow instead of mostly blue and pink.
Do I think they're overrated? Nope!
Do I love them all? Nope!
Fave to least (no cookies for me)
Ice Crystal
Thundercloud
Sunburst
Tornado
Fireball
Lightning
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I think they're overhyped! I really prefer the boys when they look shy, like Salty's pose. Ice Crystal is my favorite because of this, as well as his elegant and delicate aqua color. I can make my own cookies. Tornado is a close third but I don't like his coloration as much. Sunburst is my second favorite because of his colors. The other half don't do anything for me, it's mostly the colors.
I do really like the extra stripe of color though and I feel that it adds something, but I just don't get the hype. Probably better for my wallet anyway, lets me focus on the Tales ponies instead.
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I think it's cool they're named after nature / natural disasters.
Conversely I think the Big Brother ponies are almost . . . embarrassing? "I'm 4-Speed so I have a TRUCK on my butt 'cause I'm a BOY and boys love TRUCKS!" Like . . . okay. Nothing about that makes me want to buy you or own you, but okay. Also most of them have pretty mucky color schemes. I don't object to them having pink or purple on them, that's fine, but it's rarely a NICE shade, you know? While most of the Mountain Boys are very vibrant.
So I think part of the Mountain Boys appeal is the realization (among Americans) that there WAS a set of boys who were simply better than what we got.
The freckles are completely neutral for me. I actually don't like freckles on most ponies who aren't Bow Tie and Applejack.
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The Big Brothers are better. I think the Mountain Boys are so overrated. I'd much rather Tex or 4-Speed (being as I seem to relate to them more with my tomboy truck loving, desert-obsessive heart) than Lighting or Ice Crystal.
I like them a lot sure! But Big Brothers hold a special place in my heart that Mountain Boys don't. I also think they have weird colors, whereas the Big Brothers have nicer ones.
My favorite is Sunburst though.
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This is kind of a fun topic for me. I grew up with only sisters, and my dad was an active part of my pony collecting. He wanted me to make sure I had male ponies, and as a US collector, we had the big brothers. It was a big part of my collection for my dad to make sure the boys were accurately represented. :lol:
We moved to England when I was 13 (in 1997), so the mountain boys became a new way to add to my boys. :). However, at the moment, I do not have any. One day perhaps I will replace the few I had. Somehow, Ice Crystal went completely MIA when I went to college. :sad:
Side note, I had a beautiful Thailand Ice Crystal with a dark green streak a while ago that I sold. Pictures are on the MLP Wiki...
http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Ice_Crystal (http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Ice_Crystal)
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I think it's cool they're named after nature / natural disasters.
Conversely I think the Big Brother ponies are almost . . . embarrassing? "I'm 4-Speed so I have a TRUCK on my butt 'cause I'm a BOY and boys love TRUCKS!" Like . . . okay. Nothing about that makes me want to buy you or own you, but okay. Also most of them have pretty mucky color schemes. I don't object to them having pink or purple on them, that's fine, but it's rarely a NICE shade, you know? While most of the Mountain Boys are very vibrant.
So I think part of the Mountain Boys appeal is the realization (among Americans) that there WAS a set of boys who were simply better than what we got.
The freckles are completely neutral for me. I actually don't like freckles on most ponies who aren't Bow Tie and Applejack.
Can I ask how that would be considered "embarrassing"? Boys tend to lean towards enjoying that kind of stuff. That's not a bad thing. And obviously based off how popular they are girls liked them having machinery symbols. They had two pink brothers, and seemed to be going towards a machine themed set with them. I would have been so excited to have that as a girl, I grew up next to a sod farm and other various farms and loved watching equipment. As soon as I found out these lads existed I was never happier. I guess I find it to be awesome they had ponies like that in what seems to be a girly line.
Continuing on freckles: I dislike them on ponies for some reason? Applejack and Bowtie are awesome with them but every other pony with the is eh. This being said I like the Big Brothers having blush rather than freckles.
Post Merge: December 02, 2019, 08:31:55 PM
This is kind of a fun topic for me. I grew up with only sisters, and my dad was an active part of my pony collecting. He wanted me to make sure I had male ponies, and as a US collector, we had the big brothers. It was a big part of my collection for my dad to make sure the boys were accurately represented. :lol:
We moved to England when I was 13 (in 1997), so the mountain boys became a new way to add to my boys. :). However, at the moment, I do not have any. One day perhaps I will replace the few I had. Somehow, Ice Crystal went completely MIA when I went to college. :sad:
Side note, I had a beautiful Thailand Ice Crystal with a dark green streak a while ago that I sold. Pictures are on the MLP Wiki...
http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Ice_Crystal (http://mylittlewiki.org/wiki/Ice_Crystal)
He is beautiful :lovey: hope you can get them again soon! :heart:
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Is it their colouring? Not really
The fact they're boy ponies? No. But I like the molds.
THe freckles? No, not really.
The names? Yes, partly.
The fact they're a little more difficult to get because of geography) No, I wish they were released here.
Some other reason? Yes! Their nature symbols and names. Even the fact they aren’t called “Big Brothers” is better.
As a child, I watched a lot of other kids get bullied by their big brothers. I wasn’t a fan And, if these boy ponies were having romantic relationships with the female ponies, should they really call them brothers? I was troubled by that.
I really, really disliked the US Big Brothers when they came out. I never imagined trucks, boats, baseball, Texas and football in Pony Land. Their intro in the cartoon was simply bizarre. Never mentioned before and never mentioned again. The molds were cool and I was a little sad there were no girl versions. I still don’t care for them.
I did like Daddy Apple Delight because of his more natural theme.
When I found out about the Mountain Boys, I was really impressed. I loved their symbols and their names. I love the idea of them running around in the mountains. They just seem to fit better in the My Little Pony universe.
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Their colouring? Yes
The fact that they're boy ponies? Probably? I also like the molds so that helps.
Freckles? I wasn't aware they had freckles until this thread, but no I don't care for freckles.
Names? Yeah, a lot of them are pretty good.
The fact they're a little harder to get because of geography? That is a contributing factor, but not a major one.
Something else? Idk what exactly it is, but they do have a different appeal compared to the other brothers.
Also order of favourites
1. Ice Crystal
2. Tornado
3. Thundercloud
4. Sunburst
5. Lightning
6. Fireball
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For me it's that they are boys, and the feathered feet are awesome. So as a collector, I wanted all the BB and MB ponies. For me they weren't overhyped, because with me in the U.S., the MB ponies were just harder to obtain, so its exciting when you are able to get one. Ponyland has too few boy ponies, so to me seem more desirable, and really needs male unis and pegs.
Maybe if I had brother ponies as a kid, I wouldn't have been teased so much for liking ponies. Look Dad! It's got a dump truck on its bum! So it can't be bad, right?
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Because they’re male ponies that aren’t based on tired tropes of boyhood/masculinity. So because the Big Brothers are male, they ALL have to like stereotypically “male” things like baseball and trucks? It’s like they’re trying to prove their pony-manhood (stallionhood?), lol.
Anyway, the Mountain Boys are just so much nicer, IMO. Dramatic, weather-related symbols, vibrant colors, cool names... I’d love them even if they were about as rare as Peachy. XD
My favorites, ranked:
Sunburst
Tornado
Lightning
Ice Crystal
Fireball
Thundercloud
Yay, cookies for me! :D
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Reading through these comments is super interesting for me having grown up with these guys. Maybe a better comparison would've been with Mimic, because she wasn't sold here either, but is a bit more on the pricey side than the Glory/Medley gang are.
We did have the other boy ponies here (first set as Adventure Boy Ponies, second set were called Big Brothers) but they came out in 1988 and 1989, so the year after the MB set. I have a wondering whether Hasbro originally were not going to release the Brother sets here because their themes were very American and thus may not have related to British kids...In the end I think the MB set did pretty well and maybe encouraged them to put out the other two sets. They did change a bunch of the names, and I guess by originally calling them 'Adventure Boys' it moved away from the idea they could be the pony's 'big brother', rather that they were on some adventure in some other place.
The Big Brother/Adventure Boys were ultimately more common for me carbooting as a kid, albeit not all of them - Trucker (4Speed) was not that common and I never to this date have found a Quarterback over here.
But then as a kid in the comics I liked them. They had fun personalities. I probably was more attached to the MBs because I owned a few (though Lightning was the one I always wanted most as a kid and I never found him) but I like the brothers also. The MBs also had decent characters in the comics and especially the 1988 annual. There was zero romantic suggestion I don't think for the Big Brother nine in the comics. The only thing I remember is what I thought as a kid was Lightning flirting with Confetti when she was babysitting Baby Cuddles. I think I thought of it this way though because Confetti was a bride pony here.
For some reason I remember stories around Quarterback and him being singlemindedly game obsessed but being dragged to a party or something...I can't remember the details now, just that he was quite funny because of it. I was sad not to find him here second hand though I know he must have been here. Weirdly Tornado was also the hardest MB to find for me here so I guess maybe the darker blue colour scheme was less popular here.
The freckles thing is kind of funny since there are often more freckled ponies over here then over there. No idea what that's about, but there's Gypsy and Snowflake too, and all the schoolish ponies. (But again, I like the freckles).
It is interesting how the colours on the brother ponies (a couple aside) are more muted than the MB set in general. Barnacle is obviously very vibrant but if you compare the yellow of Tex to that of Sunburst it's quite different. I can see why that would appeal to some people and not to others.
I've always assumed then that the MBs were created here as replacements for the Big Brothers but we ended up getting the brothers anyway. Meaning boy ponies were super successful here for some reason?
My childhood MBs were Sunburst (when my sister was born), Fireball and Thundercloud and they are super special to me because of that. But I think my favourite is still probably Lightning. He always reminds me of cheese.
I'm also one of the possible minority (?) who never saw G1 as a girly line. So I never saw the big brothers as trying to define masculinity.
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I like them because they are rare and appealling. Also I want all the g1 boys. Plus their molds and colours are gorgeous.
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The only boy in my childhood ponies was Quarterback. He lives separated from the rest of my ponies now because time has not been kind to him. He has changed in to a dull gray color and has many age spots. I lost his bandana at one point but kept his helmet.
I do own Ice Crystal because I won him in a contest at the TP. :) and my pony persona Marius is made from a Big Brother/Adventure Boy but they are the only 3 boys in my herd.
I think the Mountain Boys are more interesting than the Big Brothers/Adventure ponies. :)
Ponyfan
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I’ve always preferred the mountain boys over the big brother ponies because I really like their nature themed names and symbols. :) They also just have really nice color schemes!
To be fair I do like all the boy ponies in general though. I love they Clydesdale fuzzy feet on them! I wish more had been made.
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I like almost all the boy ponies, but the reason I like the Mountain Boys is because the US boy ponies are mostly themed around sports, vehicles, and other "manly" things. Which is fine, and I still like them, but they're not as interesting to me as the MBs, which are mostly focused on weather-like symbols, which happens to be my aesthetic.
My top favorites is Tornado, closely followed by Ice Crystal, Chief, then Wigwam, Barnacle, Sunburst, and Lightning.
Salty and Thundercloud get honorable mentions.
Steamer and Fireball are "just ok" in my opinion, though I do like Fireball's beautiful hair.
Tex, 4-Speed, Quarterback, and Slugger are the worst offenders in the "manly" category for me lol.
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I love their colors, symbols, and the adorable freckles! ^-^ I have all but Thundercloud now. Just waiting for an opportunity to snatch one to complete the set. <3
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I like the mostly vibrant colors (hence why I’m not crazy about Ice Crystal), the weather theme, and the fact that together they make a rainbow.
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I like the mostly vibrant colors (hence why I’m not crazy about Ice Crystal), the weather theme, and the fact that together they make a rainbow.
This is a good point, they pretty much do. I wonder if that was the idea...
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I always liked that they were themed after RAW ELEMENTAL POWERRRRR! Much more interesting than many of the Big Brothers in the U.S. to me at least.
My favorite is probably Tornado, because I just have to gravitate towards that darn fading pink hair. :P
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For all you people who grew up in places that did NOT have Mountain Boys...
Since we didn't have any ponies where I live back in the 1980s, I guess I qualify to answer that question too. To me, part of the reason is that I just overall like all male ponies (at least as toys), their designs are so cute, and part of it is their badass themes revolving around the forces of nature, I like to imagine they would make a cool Japanese-style animated spinoff show dedicated to them, seing how their characters are related to such things as tornadoes, ice, lightnings or frigging fireballs.
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the only one i ever want is ice crystal because of colour combo, theme and name, other then that the MB's don't do anything for me. maybe if they had had hats and scarfs/bandanna's i might think differently. i grew up with BB's and just loved the fact they (hasbro) bought out boys and they had these cool accessories which made them more interesting.
i think some time back there was a post on if MB's had hats what would they be, i often think of what would match them :D
anyways if i could afford an ice crystal he would have to be mint. but at the moment i couldn't justify the cost .
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The Colors - and the Weather Theme are just so awesome!
PS - here's hoping HQG1 some day makes some weather themed boy ponies (esp in the Steamer pose) and flocks them too! that would be even more awesome
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The Colors - and the Weather Theme are just so awesome!
PS - here's hoping HQG1 some day makes some weather themed boy ponies (esp in the Steamer pose) and flocks them too! that would be even more awesome
Yeees!
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What is it about them that makes them so popular? I think the apeal of not having them over here in the united states.
Is it their colouring? I actually like those bold colors on the mountain boys. The big brothers had ok colors but they didnt speak vibrant boy pony to me.
The fact they're boy ponies? Yes I love boy ponies even more so than when I first started collecting. I only had one boy pony growing up it was Tex.
THe freckles? I love those freckles it makes them special and cute.
The names? I dont mind the names I think they were trying to appeal towards boys and girls with the names.
The fact they're a little more difficult to get because of geography) Yes they are in the UK its not so hard though for me to get them I just have to be paitient with the prices I only have 2 more mountain boys to get. I get them someday.
Some other reason? Not really I think that covers it.
Or do you think they're overhyped? I think maybe a little but they are very loved ponies to me.
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They are boy ponies.
That's it. I love the adult boy ponies.
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It's so interesting how different reasons pull different people in (or put them off).
I am trying to think what ponies we didn't have in the UK that we didn't know about when I was a kid...that have that kind of appeal to me now. Maybe Night Glider's set....or baby Cherries Jubilee and Baby Buttons, I was so excited when I first found out about them too. There is something about a pony that's from another part of the world. I often wonder what kind of child played with my ponies and what kind of places they went when that pony comes from another country.
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Colour: yes, I do love their colour schemes.
Boys: never a bad thing to have more boy ponies in the herd. I like the boy molds.
Freckles: so much yes! I love freckles on ponies and I’m jealous that you had so many more over there than we had over here.
Names: I do find the names fun
Geography: yes, I think the fact that they’re harder to get in North America helps to increase their popularity.
Other: I like how their designs are similar to a lot of the early G1 lines. Simple colour schemes that work well like the first six ponies. Symbols from nature and interesting names to match like the Glory set of unicorns and Pegasus. These are some of my favourites, so it’s natural I’d be drawn to the MBs.
I do love the BBs as well, but I find the MBs more interesting. Also, the BBs themes generally don’t interest me (I’m not into trucks or boats or many sports [they should have done a hockey-themed BB!]) I do love th BB accessories though. I’ve been terribly slow about getting the MBs though. I only have Fireball and Tornado so far.
I’m not sure I could pick a favourite from that set. Maybe Tornado since he was my first MB.
Elf
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The weather theme, the colours, the freckles, the fact that they aren't as aggressively macho as the big brothers...
1 ice crystal (no cookies for me)
2 sunburst
3 tornado
4 lighting
5 thundercloud
6 fireball
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I'm glad I got them when I did, before they got all hyped up and expensive. The reason I got into them in the first place was because friend was all about the boy ponies and I was going to get some for her but then I started enjoying them and ended up with all of them and wanting to get all the G1 boy ponies :blush: I did get my friend two of them though, Sunburst and Lightening.
My Ice Crystal still needs his rusty insides dealt with...and Tornado still has a bit of his pink still left in his hair. My favorite one and the one I got first was Sunburst! I just enjoyed his color combo, the second was Lightening xD Which I did get them in that order, heh. but I forget the order I got the other MB's. I did have two Sunburst's but I eventually sold the second one I had with a yarn tail. I need to get them all together again, Tornado is hidden in a box away from the others xD but not sure where that box is now :wonder:
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What is it about them that makes them so popular?
I absolutely love nature themed ponies so that is a huge thing for me.
Is it their colouring? I do really love the coloring and love how they are a rainbow of colors.
The fact they're boy ponies? Yes, because there are far less boy ponies, especially any with symbols that greatly appeal to me. Also, I've always been a fan of draft horses. Chief is one of my favorite ponies of all time and I love all ponies in that pose.
THe freckles? Doesn't matter to me at all, but they're cute.
The names? Yes, I really love the names.
The fact they're a little more difficult to get because of geography) - Doesn't matter to me.
Some other reason?
They're such a refreshing change from the big brothers we got here. I do not like football, trucks, baseball, etc. like the big brothers have on them, but have always been very interested in natural phenomena. That's true big brothers have hats and scarves--those are definitely nice to have. However, I really love nature so that makes the mountain boys far more appealing and interesting. Big brothers are much more special to me due to the childhood memories though.
My favorite Mountain Boys are Ice Crystal and Fireball. I love Ice Crystal's colors (I've always been a huge fan of pale minty green), symbol and name the best, but prefer Fireball's pose much more. I like the idea of someday having them both, Fire and Ice. I don't own any mountain boys, but maybe I would buy one or two someday. I don't want the whole set though because they're too expensive nowadays. I regret not buying them when they were cheaper, but back then I was focusing on other ponies I wanted more.
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The weather theme, the colours, the freckles, the fact that they aren't as aggressively macho as the big brothers...
1 ice crystal (no cookies for me)
2 sunburst
3 tornado
4 lighting
5 thundercloud
6 fireball
aggressive macho as the BB's :lol: hey there was a lot of pink going on with the Big Bro's :P
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My MB ranking:
Ice Crystal
Lightning
Tornado
Thundercloud
Sunburst
Fireball
Is it their coloring? Yes, I like the bright colors and combos, especially Ice Crystal, Lightning, and Tornado. They are just more aesthetically pleasing and almost seem more thought out. I love mint green, pink fading hair and the dark blue of Tornado. Lightning is nice and bright too. They are just so much more pretty! Even though I do not care for Fireball's coloring at all. I always think of Thundercloud being paired with Sherbet. I am hoping to find a Tornado with un-faded hair.
The fact they're boy ponies? Not specifically because of gender, but because of the molds used with feathers. We never had boy ponies growing up, I do not have any nostalgic reason for liking them.
I do prefer the Chief pose the most overall. I wish Ice Crystal had that pose instead of the one he has.
The freckles? They're cute but not necessary.
The names? I do like their names better than the BBs-Slugger, 4-Speed (I like Trucker better), Quarterback (I think I will just call him QB), and Steamer/Tracks just seem so...clunky...less creative? I do often refer to MB Tornado as Twister a lot. That just seems to roll off the tongue better for me.
The fact they're a little more difficult to get because of geography? No, that's just a byproduct, not the reason.
Some other reason? They almost seem more mature to me based on names and colors which helps me imagine personalities. Or like they are more...refined? That does not seem right either given the term Mountain Boys makes me think of hillbilly at times, lol. For me the BB's seem like 20-something young men who still have a lot of growing up to do with their superficial personas based on trucks, trains, cowboys and pirates. While the MBs seem like the 30-something, successful men that are more mature but still young and attractive enough to be called McDreamy and McSteamy, for you Grey's fans out there. Like the more attractive Hollywood actors lately seem to be in the mid thirties or older. If that makes sense to anyone. Suave, debonair, chivalrous, maybe?
Or do you think they're overhyped? Maybe, but what HTF pony isn't to some extent?
So I think part of the Mountain Boys appeal is the realization (among Americans) that there WAS a set of boys who were simply better than what we got.
Kinda. Yeah, maybe?
Conversely I think the Big Brother ponies are almost . . . embarrassing? "I'm 4-Speed so I have a TRUCK on my butt 'cause I'm a BOY and boys love TRUCKS!" Like . . . okay. Nothing about that makes me want to buy you or own you, but okay. Also most of them have pretty mucky color schemes. I don't object to them having pink or purple on them, that's fine, but it's rarely a NICE shade, you know? While most of the Mountain Boys are very vibrant.
Can I ask how that would be considered "embarrassing"? Boys tend to lean towards enjoying that kind of stuff. That's not a bad thing. And obviously based off how popular they are girls liked them having machinery symbols. They had two pink brothers, and seemed to be going towards a machine themed set with them. I would have been so excited to have that as a girl, I grew up next to a sod farm and other various farms and loved watching equipment. As soon as I found out these lads existed I was never happier. I guess I find it to be awesome they had ponies like that in what seems to be a girly line.
Post Merge: December 02, 2019, 08:31:55 PM
Maybe, not embarrassing, maybe just superficial?
We did have the other boy ponies here (first set as Adventure Boy Ponies, second set were called Big Brothers) but they came out in 1988 and 1989, so the year after the MB set. I have a wondering whether Hasbro originally were not going to release the Brother sets here because their themes were very American and thus may not have related to British kids...In the end I think the MB set did pretty well and maybe encouraged them to put out the other two sets. They did change a bunch of the names, and I guess by originally calling them 'Adventure Boys' it moved away from the idea they could be the pony's 'big brother', rather that they were on some adventure in some other place.
The Big Brother/Adventure Boys were ultimately more common for me carbooting as a kid, albeit not all of them - Trucker (4Speed) was not that common and I never to this date have found a Quarterback over here.
I've always assumed then that the MBs were created here as replacements for the Big Brothers but we ended up getting the brothers anyway. Meaning boy ponies were super successful here for some reason?
So, the UK had the MBs, Adventure Boys, then BBs? AB/BBs were still more common there than MBs? Who do you remember being the most common MBs? Were the AB/BBs a lot more common or just a little bit? Were all of them featured in the comics?
The mention about the "common in the US" ponies at the beginning of this thread regarding ponies Brits were familiar with due to the comics, etc but not selling them there, makes me think of the Tales ponies. The show was aired in the US but the US did not get the toys. Just seems so counterproductive to me, not to put both in either country, or both countries for that matter. Same with the earlier ponies mentioned.
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We did have the other boy ponies here (first set as Adventure Boy Ponies, second set were called Big Brothers) but they came out in 1988 and 1989, so the year after the MB set. I have a wondering whether Hasbro originally were not going to release the Brother sets here because their themes were very American and thus may not have related to British kids...In the end I think the MB set did pretty well and maybe encouraged them to put out the other two sets. They did change a bunch of the names, and I guess by originally calling them 'Adventure Boys' it moved away from the idea they could be the pony's 'big brother', rather that they were on some adventure in some other place.
The Big Brother/Adventure Boys were ultimately more common for me carbooting as a kid, albeit not all of them - Trucker (4Speed) was not that common and I never to this date have found a Quarterback over here.
I've always assumed then that the MBs were created here as replacements for the Big Brothers but we ended up getting the brothers anyway. Meaning boy ponies were super successful here for some reason?
So, the UK had the MBs, Adventure Boys, then BBs? AB/BBs were still more common there than MBs? Who do you remember being the most common MBs? Were the AB/BBs a lot more common or just a little bit? Were all of them featured in the comics?
Yeah. We had the Mountain Boys in 1987, the Adventure Boys (Y5 Big Brothers) in 1988 (on UK style cards) and then the Big Brothers (Y6 Big Brothers) in 1989 on pretty much US cards except they had an extra border round the edge and some names were changed. So three years of boy ponies here. Mum bought my first MB for me in October 1987 in anticipation of my sister being born, and the other two I got around the winter/spring of 1987-8. I think then they were replaced by the AB set. I never saw any of those in stores so don't know how easy it was to get them. I think I must have been more focused on the 1st set of TAF because I had three of those in 1988 and no other boys xD.
As to carbooting, it depends on the pony. I remember seeing a lot of Tug, Tex, Tracks - which I think are the ones in both sets so that makes sense? I never saw a second hand QB here. I don't remember seeing Trucker very often, and when I did he was usually in bad shape. The other one I remember only having seen one of is Barnacle.
There's a theme there, though, the two dark blue BB ponies being the rarest, because the hardest MB for me to find round here was Tornado. xD.
On the MBs, Thundercloud was by far the most common. The next most common for me was probably either Sunburst or Ice Crystal. In contrast my sister and I found only 2 Tornados, ever - hers and mine. Fireball was the next more common. Lightning was the second rarest for me. I may have only had 3 or 4 of him. All of these numbers though come from carbooting from around the mid 1990s to around 2001.
So I think the most common BB ponies were still more common than any of the MBs (Tex, Tug) but there's not a lot between Tracks and Thundercloud for rarity and Ice Crystal and Sunburst were a lot more common for us than Barnacle or Quarterback.
But that was just my region, I have heard other UK people say they found lots of Tornados but no Ice Crystals. And I am sure there are people in the UK who got QB new.
The mention about the "common in the US" ponies at the beginning of this thread regarding ponies Brits were familiar with due to the comics, etc but not selling them there, makes me think of the Tales ponies. The show was aired in the US but the US did not get the toys. Just seems so counterproductive to me, not to put both in either country, or both countries for that matter. Sam with the earlier ponies mentioned.
Yeah, that's a great comparison and you're totally right, there's no point in publicising a pony you're not going to sell there. It was one thing having made up ponies like Ace etc, or the odd incidental pony (like Scoops is in Ice Cream Wars but I assumed she was made up as we didn't have her playset, most of the cast in that we had here) but it seems so weird to just advertise a whole line then not release them.
Another moment of Hasbro not making sense.